TEXAS ASSO |
TASA members were treated to two art exhibitions at Odessa College. Patty Rooney’s show titled “Woman in a Moment” displayed large scale portraits of women at the Wi-Fi Java coffee shop. The rich color and texture of each encaustic painting zoomed in to the facial expression of each woman, ranging from confrontational to self-possessed.
The feature art exhibit (in Sedate Hall, North Foyer and LRC/Options Gallery) was a three person show by Brian Row (drawing), Neal Wilson (painting) and Eric Weller (photography). In their artists’ statement, the artists pointed out that though there was a difference in style and media, all three of them share the common goal of a personal vision in art – a personal point of view.
Brian Row’s personal vision consists of highly evocative ink drawings that present his personal iconography with precision and manic repetition. TV’s, clown faces, and doll forms are woven together with vines of intricate lines, sometimes drawn flat on paper, sometimes consuming the relief surfaces of molded hydrocal. Brian’s work is enchanting and seductive at the same time – there is a playful magic that is witty and provocative. We zoom into Brian’s black and white wonderland without disappointment, there are even more details to discover up close.
Neal Wilson’s paintings present a rich world of abstract illusion where color, light and texture take on the impression of ambiguous forms. He works in acrylic on large canvases, and on paper with watercolor and colored pencil. His large canvases present bold marks that are carved into a rich textural surface, and each nuance of form is heightened with illusionistic shadows and contrasting colors. The large paintings seem at first very spontaneous and direct, but as you look deeper, there is a deliberate orchestration of light and color. Neal’s smaller works on paper take us to a deeper world of animated forms that evade recognition yet somehow remind me of ancient battle scenes, one complete with a golden flag waving above a fusion of reflective metal armor and smoke.
Eric Weller’s “Bare Naked Trees” series of rich sepia toned photographs move your eye around with wind and light, like following the vortex of a gentle dust devil. Tree limbs consume their softly illuminated environments of land and clouds, sometimes in focus and sometimes out. Eric has an expert eye for capturing the emotional quality of the land – a knack for the sublime, that elusive magic that makes the sway of a tree pull at your heart.
All three artists lead us to wonder and imagine and leave their work open for new interpretations. As the Brian, Neal and Eric said themselves, “What is implied is often greater that what is shown.”
- Victoria Taylor-Gore
